An SMS and a wild goose chase!

A text through WhatsApp suddenly rang the alarm bell as a popular TV channel of the country claimed that it came from a bookmaker from India, but a revered psychotherapist of the country assured The Business Post that it was an act of someone suffering from a mental disorder.

On January 11, during the Bangladesh Cricket League’s one-day tournament, Walton Central Zone’s team manager Rabiul Islam received a message on Whatsapp, where a person named Sr Mukul Chowdhury claimed that he can make the team champion with his “special powers”.

“Man’s absolute duty is to accept the truth. I am the blessed from Holy great God .I have implemented many things in this world, of which I have mentioned a little below. I made Germany world Champion in the 2014 world Cup in Brazil, and Germans gives 7 goal to Brazil in their field because of me. And also I vast defeated Germany in Russia World Cup 2018 and European Cup 2021 (sic),”, reads part of that long text from Chowdhury.

Mukul claimed that his “supernatural powers” are not only limited to the field of sports as he can bring the dead back to life. He also claimed that he controlled the national election of USA.

“A death person got re-life from my grace in Europe,. now he is healthy and can move all over. I made Barak obama the President of U.S.A. the most powerful country in the world through he has no qualification for that (sic),” added the text.

Dr Mehtab Khanam, an honorary professor at the Psychology department of the University of Dhaka and a practising psychotherapist, opined that it must be the work of someone who is psychologically unstable.

“Possibly, the message was sent by someone suffering from schizophrenia. At one stage of this disease, the patients show a symptom called grandiosity. Or it could be called the prophet syndrome as well. It is when a person thinks that he has become a prophet and controls the fate of the universe,” she said.

Mehtab also thinks that the sender of that message is a patient of psychological disorder who needs treatment and could not be a bookie.

“I have come across many cases like this where a person does not believe in their present persona or existence and thinks that he or she is someone else who is controlling the whole universe. Everything is happening according to his or her wishes. This person also seems to be like one of them who needs treatment. I don’t think he poses any threat regarding cricket corruption,” said the psychotherapist.

Mehtab’s observation and explanation are also reflected on Mukul’s email address which is worldkeeper12s@gmail.com.

Though the message appears to be a false alarm, the Bangladesh Cricket Board is taking standard response protocol as per the directions from ICC's anti-corruption policy.

“The board always runs on zero-tolerance policy when it comes to corruption in cricket. We are not taking anything lightly. If we find anything beyond a reasonable doubt, we will address it thoroughly. Sometimes approaches are made through fake identities. In that case, we have to see the merit of the subject to take it into our consideration,” said BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury.